PINNEY APPOINTED TO ABA STANDING COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL JUDICIARY

Graydon Attorney John B. Pinney has been appointed by the American Bar Association to serve a three-year term on its Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary as representative for the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Judicial Circuit comprises Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sits in Cincinnati.

For over sixty years, the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has carried out an important role with respect to Presidential judicial nominees by evaluating the professional qualifications of nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States, United States circuit courts of appeals, United States district courts, and the Court of International Trade; as well as nominees to the territorial district courts. The Committee does not propose, recommend or endorse candidates for nomination to the federal judiciary, as doing so would compromise its independent evaluative function.

In conducting its evaluation of each prospective nominee, the Committee focuses strictly on professional qualifications: integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament. The Committee does not consider a prospective nominee’s philosophy, political affiliation or ideology. The Committee’s objective is to provide impartial peer-review evaluations of the professional qualifications of prospective judicial nominees in order to assist the United States Senate in assessing whether such individuals, nominated by the President, should be confirmed to the federal judiciary. The Committee submits its final rating to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the U.S. Department of Justice to assist in the confirmation process. The Committee’s performance of its historic role in the evaluation process helps ensure that the most qualified persons serve on the federal judiciary.

The Committee consists of fifteen members representing all thirteen federal judicial circuits. Appointment to the Committee is based on a lawyer’s possession of the highest professional stature and integrity, and members have varied professional experiences and backgrounds.

Mr. Pinney is a Senior Partner with Graydon’s Litigation Group and serves as head of its International Practice Group. His practice focuses on international business disputes and has represented clients in state and federal courts throughout the United States and also before international arbitration tribunals in a number of foreign countries. Since 2014, Mr. Pinney has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Law, teaching International Commercial Arbitration and coaching the law school’s international arbitration moot team at an annual competition in Hong Kong.

In addition to serving on the Standing Committee, Mr. Pinney is a member of the Cincinnati Bar Association’s Board of Trustees and serves its delegate in the ABA’s House of Delegates. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is currently listed in numerous categories in Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. He previously served as chair of the Rules Advisory Committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Mr. Pinney graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Warton School and from the University of Michigan Law School, cum laude. He also currently is an Officer and Board Member of the Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky World Affairs Council and the Cincinnati Observatory Center.